


Trick or Treat

by CaitlinRose94



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Halloween, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 14:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3385637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaitlinRose94/pseuds/CaitlinRose94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Halloween at Silas and everyone is participating in a competition set up by the Zetas.</p><p>It's all fun and games until the Alchemy Club play a prank that turns the gang in to their Halloween costumes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Laura rolls on to her back as she attempts to tug the leather pants over her hips. It’s not as though she and Carmilla aren’t roughly the same size, it’s just that Carm has this uncanny ability to squeeze herself in to even the most unforgiving of outfits. After finally buttoning up the pants she lies back on the bed and blows out a breath. 

She eyes the red corset resting on her headboard. This is proving to be quite a struggle, but she knows the look on Carmilla’s face will be worth it. They’d agreed (or rather, Laura had insisted and Carmilla had complied) that they would not see each other’s costumes until they meet up tonight at six o’clock.

The corset pinches her skin as she finishes lacing it. She’s never shown this much cleavage before in her life, and admittedly, she’s feeling a little self conscious about it. She’d borrowed this and the pants from Carmilla’s wardrobe and is finding it a little difficult to breathe. She figures that’s never really a problem for Carm.

Laura has never been particularly gifted at hair and makeup, it just isn’t a skill that she ever felt the need to perfect, but tonight she wants to look… pretty. It’s stupid, but she’s been so excited for weeks about revealing her costume to Carmilla. She’s probably envisioned the scenario in her head a hundred times over, and now she’s made herself nervous. What if real life Laura can’t live up to scenario Laura? 

She’s finished curling her hair and is making the last touches to her makeup. It takes at least half an hour before she’s satisfied with the smoky eye look she’s been trying to achieve. 

Her hand wraps around her headboard in an attempt to steady herself. Heels are definitely not her forte, but the way she looks in them makes up for her slightly shaky steps. 

She nudges the computer mouse on her desk so that the screen will light up: 5:46pm. Should she leave now, so that Carmilla approaches her, or should she wait so that she can make an entrance? Another stumble in the heels answers that question for her; it would probably be best if she were stationary when Carmilla sees her.

Oh, she almost forgot. Laura turns and rifles through her drawer until she finds a small purple case. She withdraws a pair of fake fangs and carefully attaches them to the ends of her canines. They look great, not too cheesy, and you can’t see them unless she smiles. Perfect. She opens up the fridge door and takes out a small container labelled “Laura’s Tofu” – something she knew Carmilla would never open. Her finger dips inside and comes back covered in a thick red substance, which she smears at the corner of her mouth. Just for effect, she adds two small dabs to her throat. A few weeks ago she could have just shown off the real thing, but those bite marks had healed, and Carmilla had been biting her in… other places since that incident.

She grabs a small black handbag from inside her own wardrobe - these pants have pockets, but there’s no way she’s sliding her bulky phone in to them - and takes a deep breath before walking out of the door.

/

‘I don’t think this costume is historically accurate,’ Perry says as she pinches the top of her pointed hat between two fingers.

‘Historically accurate?’ LaFontaine teases.

‘Hey, the Salem witch trials were real.’

‘You’ll bend it, just leave it be. You look great.’

The fact that they can tell she was fiddling with the hat through a closed door makes Perry smile. 

She’d let LaFontaine pick out her costume this year, and naturally, they’d chosen a witch. _‘There’s something unnatural about your baking skills, and nobody gets their dorm room that clean without invoking some kind of magical deity,’_ they’d said.

Even though the hat seemed a bit much, she has to admit that she kind of likes the billowy black material of the dress. A tube of green face paint lies unopened on her dresser – that is something she flat out refused to wear.

‘It’s almost six, LaF, are you nearly ready?’

They’ve locked themself in the bathroom. Perry has been in the dark about LaF’s costume choice and they are really dragging out the reveal.

‘The competition kicks off at six, we’ll never win if we’re late, darling.’

‘One minute! I’m making the final adjustments.’

Perry folds her arms and huffs. If she really were a witch she’d blast that damn door open.

‘Okay,’ she can hear the sound of their hand on the doorknob, ‘are you ready?’

She reserves the desire to roll her eyes, even if LaF won’t be able to see it. ‘Yes, ready as I’ll ever be.’

The door swings open to reveal LaFontaine dressed in a police officer’s uniform.

‘And, before you comment, the pièce de résistance.’ They withdraw a cap emblazoned with what Perry assumes is a fake police emblem from behind their back and slide it on. It’s a little too big for their head.

Perry bursts in to laughter. ‘I was expecting Einstein, not Officer LaFontaine.’ 

‘Who wants to be that predictable? Besides, I think the uniform kind of suits me.’

She takes a few steps closer and runs a finger over the badge pinned to their chest. Their eyes meet and linger for a moment.

‘Yeah,’ Perry smiles, ‘it really does.’

They grin and lean forward, but Perry’s hand rises to stop them. ‘Let’s not start anything that’s going to make us later than we already are.’

LaFontaine pouts. ‘Why do the Zetas have to be such a killjoy?’

‘It’ll be worth it if we win that room.’ She presses her finger against the tip of LaFontaine’s nose. They grin.

‘Well, I can’t really argue with that.’ They say, turning toward the door.

‘Hold on!’ Perry darts over to her desk and grabs her polaroid camera.

‘I thought we were running late?’

‘Oh, one picture won’t hurt. It’ll only take a minute.’

LaFontaine turns back and wraps an arm around Perry’s waist. Just as she is about to press down, they turn their head and kiss her on the cheek. Perry giggles.

‘All right, just a smile in this next one, though! I want one I can send back to my mother.’

But this time, they kiss her forehead.

‘LaF!’ She tries to sound impatient, but she’s grinning.

After another half dozen attempts, they are finally out of the door. The last picture is still developing on her desk. Slowly, the image of them kissing comes to life in vivid colours.

/

There isn’t a particularly strong breeze tonight, but Danny is still shivering. She didn’t account for the weather when she chose this outfit, and since Laura hacked half of her skirt away, there isn’t a lot of protection left from the wind. 

She produced it to show Laura the other day, _‘An Amazon? That’s going to surprise exactly nobody.’_ It has kind of become a tradition for the Summer Society girls to dress as Amazons for Halloween, this year is no different.

She thought the length of her skirt was fine, but Laura had other ideas. Now the fabric is splayed across the upper-half of her thighs and she’s ten times more nervous for this date than she was before.

Well, it’s not a date exactly, or at all. More like a casual evening together that she has been fretting over for the past four days. She and Betty have been spending a lot more time together lately. You know, studying, hanging out, getting dinner, almost holding hands by the fire and then backing out at the last second… very casual. 

Despite the cold, her palms are sweating. She wipes them against her skirt and wishes for the thousandth time that Laura had just left it alone. She looks like an idiot. Betty is probably going to think that she’s trying way too hard. Oh god, what if she picks up on the fact that she likes her and thinks that she wore this as some kind of bizarre attempt to get her attention? There might still be time to run back to her dorm room and change in to –

‘Hi!’ Betty is waving. She’s wearing a light blue dress with a matching crown and wand. She looks adorable.

Danny takes a moment to steady her voice before speaking. ‘Hey.’ She smiles, considers hugging her for a moment, and then settles for awkwardly shaking her hand. That’s embarrassing. Moving on. ‘Let me guess, you’re a fairy?’

Betty twirls. Danny thinks that she sees glitter fall from her, but that might just be because she’s a little dazed.

‘Not _just_ a fairy, I’m a fairy princess.’ 

Danny laughs. ‘Ah yes, much cooler.’

‘Obviously. And you’re an Amazon princess?’

‘Well, not necessarily a princess, but definitely an Amazon.’

Betty’s eyes travel down her body. ‘I think you look like a princess.’

Thank the goddess for this shady tree she’s standing under, otherwise Betty would definitely be able to see the colour creeping in to her cheeks. She has this way of making Danny feel excited and nervous at the same time. She clears her throat and gestures ahead of them, indicating that they should start walking. Betty gets the hint and sets off by her side.

Danny glances over at her. ‘I guess we’re both princesses, then. Hopefully not from rival kingdoms.’

‘But that’s what makes it cool, right? Like Romeo and Juliet.’

Danny’s eyes widen. Betty immediately throws her hands up in to the air.

‘Oh!’ She says. ‘I didn’t mean – not like, with the forbidden love – I just meant, you know, rival houses… please ignore me, I’m an idiot.’

If her grin gets any wider it might split her face open.

‘Do you like Shakespeare?’ She asks, trying to alleviate some of Betty’s embarrassment.

‘Not really, I think I just liked Claire Danes.’

Danny laughs. She can relate to that. ‘I remember the first time I saw that movie, I’m pretty sure I had a crush on both of them.’

‘Well, Leo is a cutie, but Romeo was too whiny.’ She turns to face her. ‘I may have briefly been in love with him after Titanic.’

‘Ah, that’s where we part ways. Kate Winslet will always have the key to my heart.’

Now Betty is laughing.

Danny’s heart swells. She loves being able to be this open with her. Not that she doesn’t speak this freely around the Summer Society girls, but something about Betty just makes her feel… safe.

She wonders where the girls are right now. This is the first time in three years that they won’t all be spending Halloween together. They’d all understood though, considering that she’s done nothing but rave about Betty to them over the last few weeks.

‘Are you meeting up with the Summer Society girls later?’

For a second, Danny panics that Betty might be able to read her mind (this is Silas after all), but that seems unlikely. 

‘I hadn’t planned on it. You might be stuck with me all night.’

Betty looks over and smiles. ‘I hope so.’

/

Carmilla tugs at the hem of her pink dress. It isn’t sitting quite right, and the pink heels feel awkward. She can’t believe she is really wearing this. She’d have ripped it off, but the thought of the look on Laura’s face when she sees her is too strong an incentive to wear anything else.

She’d tied her hair up in to a high ponytail and emptied half a can of hairspray on to it to make sure it keeps its shape all night. It has been a long time since she’s gotten this dressed up for a date – if you can call it that. 

The campus is packed. Goblins, ghosts, and ghouls litter the grounds, and she’s seen at least four people dressed as Miley Cyrus. She wonders what Laura will be wearing. Somehow, she’s convinced she’ll be dressed as one of those ridiculous Harry Potter characters she’s always raving about. Laura in a schoolgirl outfit… not exactly an unappealing thought. She smirks.

A watch doesn’t really go with this outfit, so she’s got no idea what time it is. Hopefully she isn’t too late. Laura will kill her if she’s late. She approaches the centre of the quad but there’s no sign of her. Just some leather clad girl leaning back in the shadows. Carmilla averts her eyes. She’s not really interested in looking at anybody other than Laura.

It’s not until she walks right by the girl that she speaks up. ‘Carm?’

Carmilla slowly turns back around to see that the girl has stepped in to the light. If her heart could beat, it would probably be breaking her ribs right about now.

_‘Laura?’_

She’s met with a very wide grin - a very toothy grin.

‘Oh my god.’ Carmilla rolls her eyes. ‘Are you seriously dressed up as a vampire? You are such an idiot.’

Laura pouts and takes a few careful steps closer. Despite herself, Carmilla’s eyes slide down to stare at her (ample) chest.

‘You don’t like it?’ She asks. Her fingers trace up Carmilla’s shoulder and start twirling her ponytail. 

Carmilla swallows. ‘I didn’t say that.’

Laura presses a kiss to her cheek and she feels her skin burn.

‘While we’re picking apart each other’s costumes,’ she says, leaning back to observe Carmilla, ‘what exactly are you supposed to be?’

She frowns. She thought it was pretty obvious. ‘I’m a human!’

Laura throws her head back and laughs. Carmilla folds defensive arms across her chest.

‘I don’t think putting on a pink dress counts as being a human.’

She raises a finger to silence her and withdraws a folded up piece of paper from her purse. Laura opens it up and reads allowed: ‘The last will and testament of Carmilla Karnstein. I hereby bequeath all of my cookies to Laura Hollis.’

‘Get it?’ Carmilla grins. ‘Because I’m mortal now.’

Laura shoves the paper back in to her hands. ‘You are so lame.’ She’s smiling.

She spots the smear of red on her lips and raises an eyebrow. Without thinking, her hand moves to trace Laura’s bottom lip with her thumb. ‘What’s this supposed to be?’

‘It’s blood!’

She lets out a soft laugh. ‘Very convincing. I almost swore it was the real thing.’

‘Maybe it is real.’

Carmilla leans forward, hands behind her back, and kisses her gently. She licks the edge of her lip and Laura giggles in to her mouth.

She pulls back and smacks her lips together. ‘Just as I suspected, red dye and corn syrup.’

The streetlamp is casting a silvery light over Laura now, allowing Carmilla to really take her in. The hair and eye shadow is definitely working for her. Not to mention the wicked red lipstick. She recognises the corset, but it’s never looked this good on her. Laura is able to make any scrap of clothing look good though. She looks sexy in pajama pants and a tank top.

‘Ahem.’ Laura clears her throat. ‘Are we gonna go trick or treating, or are we gonna stand here all night while you stare at me?’

Carmilla smirks. ‘I can think of a third option.’

Laura bites her lip and shakes her head. ‘If you really want the third option, you’ve got to come trick or treating first.’

She groans. Laura’s eyes practically bulged out of her head when she’d heard the Zetas were issuing a challenge this year. Whoever collects the most candy wins a “hand-made” trophy in the shape of a jellybean. Not really a strong enough incentive to interest Carmilla, until they amped up the prize to include three nights in one of the enormous studio-apartment-sized Zeta dorms. A senior dropped out a few weeks ago (supposedly to move back home and “care for his mother”, but everybody suspects that he’d been bitten by a werewolf) and the room is still empty. They promise no interruptions for three whole glorious days.

She could just teleport to a store and fill a dozen bags in two minutes, _‘But that would be cheating, Carmilla.’_ Sometimes Laura’s unwavering moral compass is a little annoying.

‘Okay,’ Carmilla sighs, offering her arm, ‘shall we?’

Laura takes it with a grin.

/

‘Just use Alohomora, Perr.’

Perry frowns. It wouldn’t surprise LaFontaine if she didn’t even understand that reference, even though they’ve forced her to watch all eight films.

They’ve been trying to get in to the library for the last ten minutes, to no avail. 

‘Sweetie, it’s locked. Let’s just move on.’

They shake their head. ‘No way. Word on the street is that the library is packing some serious candy. We’re talking multiple pounds. It’s a sure-fire way to win this competition.’

Perry snorts. ‘Word on the street? Who’s word? What street? When did we step in to a nineties crime show?’

If they weren’t so gallant, they’d knock that witch’s hat right off her head.

‘There’s got to be a way in. I’m not leaving here without my candy.’

Perry folds her arms across her chest. 

‘Come on, Detective Perry. Are you really gonna let your partner go in alone?’

She’s trying not to smile, they can tell. LaF waits patiently for her to speak.

‘After all my years on the force, I’ve never left a man behind. Not about to break any traditions today.’ Perry’s attempt at a gravelly voice is so adorable it’s making LaFontaine’s ears go pink. ‘I’m right behind you.’

They slide around the corner with their back against the wall, holding their fake gun up with two hands. ‘Two o’clock. Open window.’

Perry looks in the wrong direction.

‘No, my two o’clock, not yours,’ they laugh.

Perry blushes. ‘How are we going to get up there?’

‘With our police academy training? It’ll be a breeze.’ They glance around. ‘Or we can just drag that garbage can over and climb up it.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’

Together, they move it beneath the window. LaFontaine climbs up first before extending their hand. Perry’s fingers close around their wrist, and their heart beats a little bit faster. Even after all this time, the slightest brush from her hand can make the oxygen catch in their throat. They hoist her up and stand with their hands wrapped around her waist. Perry presses a quick kiss to their lips. 

‘After you, partner.’ She says.

LaFontaine definitely wouldn’t mind if she called them that for the rest of their lives.

/

Danny’s heart is threatening to burst out of her chest. She and Betty have been walking along and collecting candy for about an hour now, and their hands keep brushing against each other. It’s causing her serious distress. 

If Betty is feeling the same way, it’s not showing on her face. She looks calm, cool, collected. Of course she does. Danny’s always been hopeless around crushes.

‘Looks like we’ve got a serious chance of winning.’ Betty says, glancing around at a few of the other students passing by them. They’ve yet to encounter anybody carrying more candy than themselves.

Danny smiles. ‘Obviously, we make a great team.’ She takes a breath before continuing and hopes the next sentence comes off as casual. ‘Who do you think you’ll take with you if we win?’

Betty stops walking and turns to face her. ‘What do you mean?’

How can someone make her feel this relaxed and this nervous at the same time?

‘I mean, I don’t really need the room. My own dorm is fine, and there’s not really anyone I’d want to take with me. So it’s all yours.’

‘Who else would I take other than you?’

The back of her neck feels hot. Betty looks so beautiful right now. Well, she always looks beautiful.

‘I mean,’ she continues, ‘you’re kind of the only real friend I’ve made on campus so far.’

She blows out a breath. She hadn’t even considered that before asking. This is embarrassing; she hopes she didn’t just come off as desperate as she feels.

‘Oh, yeah, I guess.’ Danny says. Why is it that the earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to? ‘That makes sense.’

They start walking again. 

‘Why don’t we hit up the Alchemy Club?’ Betty says. ‘I saw flyers stuck up around campus saying they’ve really decked out their place for tonight.’

Danny frowns. The Alchemy Club is notorious for playing nasty pranks on Halloween. Last year she and the Summer Society girls spent most of their night trying to rescue students from trees after they managed to mess up the gravity. But Betty sounds really excited.

‘I’ll lead the way.’ 

They walk together in silence for a few minutes. Their hands bump together again, but this time Betty’s fingers lace in with her own. Neither of them says anything, but Danny can see her smiling from the corner of her eye. 

She can’t contain the grin that spreads across her own face.

/

The bottom of Perry’s dress got torn as they were scrambling through the window. It’s not really a big deal though, it kind of just adds to her outfit, she thinks.

It’s eerily quiet in here, and the stacks are barely lit by a few candles lining the shelves.

‘Gee, the librarians really went all out, didn’t they?’ Perry says, moving her arm so the fabric hanging from it doesn’t catch fire. ‘Doesn’t seem wise to keep all these old books by an open flame.’

A particularly aggressive volume snaps at LaFontaine, almost catching their fingers.

‘Something tells me the books can look after themselves.’ They say.

Together, they edge along the wall, searching for any sign of a candy-laden table. Perry is starting to doubt that they’ll find anything in here when she spots a soft green light about twenty feet to their right.

‘LaF,’ she’s whispering, almost afraid that if she spooks the light it might fade away, ‘over there.’

LaFontaine follows her gaze and grins. ‘That’ll be our candy. Come on.’

They grab Perry’s hand and start leading her towards it. She’s not sure about this. Knowing this school, they’re probably about to bump in to a glowing green poltergeist. 

But alas, her worries are unfounded. It’s a giant table covered in different kinds of chocolates and sweets. She can’t find the origin of the light, but its purpose seems to be to illuminate the candy.

LaFontaine pulls out an empty sack and starts filling it. Perry shoots a nervous glance over her shoulder. Something doesn’t feel right. This was too easy.

‘C’mon, Perr. Grab a sack and help me out. You wanna win, don’t you?’

She swallows. Something tells her she doesn’t want to touch anything in here.

‘I don’t know, darling. Seems like you’ve already taken enough, maybe we should get out of here.’

LaFontaine pauses and looks over. They’re frowning. ‘Why are you so jumpy?’

Before she can even answer, piles of books come flying in their direction. Perry shrieks and drops to the ground. When she opens her eyes, LaFontaine is swatting at a few lingering dictionaries.

The green light extinguishes and the books scatter. LaFontaine extends a hand to help her up.

‘That was random,’ they say, ‘I wonder what spooked them?’

‘Who cares? Let’s just get out of here before something else happens.’

LaFontaine hoists the overfilled candy sack over their shoulder with one arm and wraps the other one around Perry. They’re halfway to the exit when a loud crash causes them to both break in to a run.

‘Don’t look back! Don’t look back!’ Perry is shrieking.

The sack is banging against the back of LaFontaine’s knees and slowing them down, but they aren’t letting go of it.

Hundreds of books are soaring around the room now. Perry ducks just in time to avoid being knocked unconscious by one of them. Without thinking, she glances behind them, and that’s when she sees what’s causing the books to scatter.

Of course the campus dragon – who gets spotted maybe three days out of a year by any student – is leaping across the stacks after them. She’s not a big dragon, roughly the size of a small dog, but she can still breathe green flames that are hot enough to melt your face off.

Perry looks over at LaFontaine. She likes their face. She doesn’t want it to be melted off.

‘Dragon, LaFontaine! DRAGON.’ She yells. ‘Keep running!’

‘Where are we running to? We’ll never make it back out of that window!’

They’re almost at the front doors, which they both know are locked. But they can’t turn back unless they want all of their skin singed off. 

Perry makes a sudden decision. ‘Follow me! Hurry!’

She darts left and hears the sound of LaF’s boots skidding along the floor as they attempt to mimic her abrupt change of direction. 

‘Where… are we… going?’ LaFontaine is panting hard. The dragon is getting closer.

‘Take my hand, do it now!’

She feels a warm hand grasp her own and barrels forward, directly towards a standalone bookshelf by a barred window.

‘Perry?’ LaFontaine yells, but before they can get an answer, Perry is reaching forward to wrench a green book from the shelf.

It spins in a circle, sending them flying outside and on to a patch of damp grass. She instantly feels the heat dissipate, and the cool evening air replaces it. She sucks some of it in to her burning lungs. 

LaFontaine coughs several times before speaking in a croaky voice. ‘Jesus, Perr, since when did you know about some secret passageway inside of the library?’

She’d laugh if she weren’t panting so hard. ‘Let’s just say I have my own little Marauder’s Map.’ 

They’re grinning at her. She knows she’ll have to explain sooner or later, but LaFontaine has never been one to push her.

‘Oh, damn it.’ LaF says as they poke the side of their candy sack. ‘Feels like half the chocolate’s melted.’

‘Good thing Kirsch’s competition calls for a weigh in rather than a candy count.’

They grin. ‘Well, I think that’s enough adrenaline for me for one night. How about we go to the Alchemy Club next? All they have is a spook house, and after being chased by a dragon, that doesn’t sound so spooky.’

Perry wraps an arm around them. A few students are walking by but she doesn’t care. She pulls them over and plants a kiss on them. ‘In a minute, I just want to lie here for a second.’

LaFontaine smiles and rests their head against her chest.

/

They’ve been to four different dorms and have only managed to fill a few sacks. If Laura would just let her show her fangs, Carmilla would probably be able to scare more kids in to giving her all of their candy. But that would probably ruin her costume.

‘I think it’s this way.’ Laura says for the hundredth time. They’ve been walking around in circles trying to find the Alchemy Club.

Carmilla wouldn’t be surprised if the campus grounds were physically shifting just to confuse the student body.

‘Look, why don’t we just find a different club to go to?’ Carmilla says. She’s sick of walking.

‘Like what, the Summer Society?’ Laura snorts.

She’s got her there. That’s the last place she wants to visit. Big Red has been fawning over her brain-sucked blonde crush lately, but there’s still some lingering tension between them. It’s not as though Danny still has feelings for Laura; she just still resents Carmilla, and hey, the feeling is mutual.

‘Do we really _have_ to win this competition?’ Carmilla slides a hand around Laura’s waist, causing them to both stop. 

Laura shakes her head. ‘If we get one more noise complaint, they’ll separate us in to different buildings. Don’t you want to spend the weekend with me in an uninterrupted room?’ She turns so that they’re facing. ‘No Perry. No LaFontaine.’ She slides a little closer. ‘No Danny.’

Carmilla raises an eyebrow. They’re almost the same height right now, thanks to Laura’s heels. Her eyes flick down to her lips. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Laura, who leans forward so that their mouths are almost touching.

‘Three whole days,’ she’s practically whispering now, ‘where we can do whatever we want, be as loud as we want. Doesn’t that sound good to you?’

The innuendos combined with this outfit are too much for her. ‘Yes,’ she says.

‘Great!’ Laura snaps away from her. ‘Then quit complaining. Anyway, I think it’s this way.’ She turns on her heel and heads in a new direction.

Carmilla stands there for a moment, blinking. Unbelievable.

 

It takes them a good twenty minutes to _finally_ reach the Alchemy Club. They’re walking towards it hand-in-hand when Carmilla realises that four other people are heading in the same direction. She spots three heads of red hair. Perfect. The Ginger Twins and Danny and her crush are all here. If this turns in to some kind of horrific triple date she’s teleporting to Iceland.

‘Hey guys!’ Laura beams, waving her hand in the air. 

Well, there goes any chance they had of pretending that they hadn’t seen them.

‘Laura,’ Perry reaches them first, ‘don’t you look – oh, dear.’

Carmilla bites the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Perry seems to have just gotten a good look at Laura’s costume, and she looks like a distressed mother.

‘Aren’t you cold, sweetheart?’ She asks.

Laura, oblivious as ever, just smiles. ‘No, I’m fine. I love your costume! And yours too, LaF.’

The bio ginger has sidled up beside Perry and seems to be dressed as a police officer. They turn to face Carmilla. ‘And what are you supposed to be?’ They ask.

Carmilla frowns. She doesn’t really care what anyone other than Laura thinks of her costume, but these lack wits should be able to at least decipher its meaning.

‘She’s a human.’ Laura answers for her.

LaFontaine bursts out laughing. ‘Oh, I totally see it now. You’re like one of those classic girl-next-door humans, right? You’re actually hilarious, Carm.’

Normally she only lets Laura call her that, but she’ll let it slide this one time. Out of all of Laura’s insufferable friends, LaFontaine is probably the one that she hates the least.

‘Hey guys, what are the chances that we’d all head here at the same time?’ Danny has reached them now. Carmilla avoids making eye contact with her.

‘Your skirt!’ Perry says. ‘Dear, aren’t _you_ cold?’

Danny exchanges a brief look with Laura that Carmilla doesn’t understand before responding. ‘I am a little cold, actually.’

‘But it’s worth it to look this good, right?’ Betty chimes up.

Danny’s cheeks go pink. 

_Don’t gag, it will upset Laura. Don’t do it._ Carmilla swallows before speaking. ‘So are we going in, or what?’

She takes Laura’s hand and walks up the steps to the front door, not waiting for any of the others. She doesn’t really care if they tag along or not.

There’s a very tacky “Ring If You Dare” sign stuck below the doorbell. She rolls her eyes and reaches out to press it when Laura’s hand shoots up to stop her.

‘Wait! The Alchemy Club is tricky. They probably booby trapped the doorbell, don’t ring it.’

She tries the doorknob. ‘Well, it’s locked cupcake, so looks like we’ve got no choice.’

Laura’s grip on her arm tightens and she drags her back down the steps. ‘I’ll press it.’ She says.

Carmilla pulls her arm out of her grasp. ‘Are you kidding me? No, stand back here, I’ll go do it.’

‘No, Carm! What if something happens to you?’

‘Oh, for the love of – get out of the way.’ Danny barrels past them and slams her hand on to the button. The door swings open, accompanied by a very cheesy scream soundtrack. ‘You two need to chill the fuck out. You can’t let one little near death experience affect you like this. Come on, Betty.’

The two of them disappear through the doorway. Perry and LaFontaine follow behind them. Laura frowns.

‘It wasn’t a _little_ near death experience.’ She pouts.

‘I know. I’m actually already dead anyway, so that was rude.’ She’s smiling. Laura smiles back, and they follow the other girls inside.

As far as “spooky” houses go, this one is pretty weak. A few fake cobwebs here and there, a couple of pop-out monsters (one of them burst out in front of Danny and she almost fell over, that was pretty great), but nothing too sinister. Still, Laura’s clinging on a little too tightly to Carmilla’s hand. It’s cute. She’s cute.

It doesn’t take them long to navigate to the end of the house where the candy table is.

‘Well,’ Perry says, ‘that was certainly a lot easier than the library.’

‘You guys went to the library?’ Laura asks. She doesn’t look pleased.

‘Their idea, not mine.’ Perry says, gesturing toward LaFontaine.

‘Why would you just roll over on your partner like that? What kind of a cop are you?’ LaFontaine says.

Carmilla rolls her eyes. Prolonged exposure to the Ginger Twins can cause a severe toothache. She turns her attention elsewhere.

Betty leans over and whispers to Danny, ‘What’s wrong with the library?’

Danny speaks from the corner of her mouth. ‘It’s just dangerous after dark. You know, like most of the campus. This probably isn’t the best school for you to have stayed at.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, it’s got a few perks.’ 

Their hands meet, and Danny is grinning like an idiot – until she catches Carmilla’s eye, who taps her ear and mouths “vampire hearing” at her. Danny’s face drops. 

Carmilla smirks and turns back to Laura. She hands her an empty sack. ‘Shall we?’

There’s no actual candy on this table, she realises. LaFontaine seems to have just noticed this as well, because they’re lifting up the edges of the tablecloth as if they’re going to find a stash of chocolate beneath it.

There are two signs on the table, each with a button in front of it. “Trick” and “Treat”. Carmilla frowns.

‘Well, you don’t have to be a genius to work this one out.’ LaFontaine says, leaning forward to slam down the “Treat” button.

‘LaFontaine, wait – ’ Danny starts, but the rest of her sentence gets cut off when they’re all blasted backwards by an explosion of coloured lights.

Carmilla falls back, hitting her rib on something solid. It knocks the air right out of her lungs… and she’s struggling to _breathe._

/

The explosion catches Danny on her right, blasting her sideways in to a shelf. She feels a dozen or so books come tumbling down on to her head. Okay, that’s going to hurt tomorrow. She raises a shaky hand to rub her eyes, and it comes back with blood on it. Shit, she must have gotten cut somehow. It’s hazy and she can’t really see anything in front of her. She feels around blindly until her hand makes contact with an arm.

‘Betty?’ She chokes out, coughing. ‘Betty? Is that you?’

After a few heart-stopping seconds, she hears her voice. ‘It’s me, I’m okay, I’m fine.’

Her eyes focus and they seem to take each other in at the same time, speaking simultaneously.

‘You’re bleeding!’

'You’re glowing!’

‘What? What do you mean glowing?’

‘Betty, I mean your actual skin is glowing.’

Danny reaches out, but Betty snatches her hand away before she can touch her. ‘Jesus Danny, don’t touch me! What if I’ve been exposed to some kind of radiation poison?’

‘Well, then I’ve already been exposed too, haven’t I?’ Danny says.

Betty frowns. ‘I don’t think so, you aren’t glowing.’ She squints. ‘I also don’t think that’s your own blood. I can’t see any cuts.’ She shuffles forward and places her hands on either side of Danny’s face. ‘It kind of looks like symbols, and your outfit…. whoa.’

Danny glances down and stiffens. Her costume has changed. It’s not made from the faux leather stuff she got from the drama department. If she’s not mistaken, it actually looks like _animal hide_.

‘Blergh!’ She says. ‘What the hell is this shit?’

‘Danny.’ Betty says quietly.

‘Honestly, I would never wear animal fur, I didn’t –‘ 

_‘Danny.’_

She turns to face her. Betty points to a corner of the room where Laura is lying face down. She’s pale as death and it doesn’t look like she’s breathing. Danny leaps over and lands on her knees, sliding beside her. 

‘Laura?’

No response. She places a hand against her back. It isn’t rising, she definitely isn’t breathing. Gently, she tucks a hand around her and starts rolling her over.

Laura spins around and grips Danny by the shoulders, pinning her to the ground in a second. Before she can scream, she feels fangs sink in to her throat.

/

Perry stands and cracks her neck. She can hear the sound of the others coughing and spluttering. Nobody’s dead. She glances over at the corner where Laura is lying. Well, not technically. LaFontaine is slowly rising from the other end of the room. They almost flew straight through the window. She purses her lips together. Someone’s messing around with some dangerous elements that they don’t know how to control.

It’s a strange feeling. Like a switch in her brain has been flicked on in an instant, flooding it with knowledge and understanding. She recognises what has just happened, and she isn’t afraid. Though, she supposes, the others may be. Perhaps she should explain it to them.

Before she gets the chance though, Danny is letting out a gurgled shriek from the corner. Laura has her pinned down. Perry rushes to her aid, wrenching Laura from her with a simple flick of the wrist. Danny scrambles away. 

She watches as the realisation of what just happened dawns across Laura’s face, before it is replaced with panic. 

Perry strides over to Carmilla and hoists her up so that she is leaning against a wall. She places a gentle hand over her chest and eases her breathing. Everybody looks beyond bewildered, and they’re all staring at Perry.

‘Right.’ She says in a brusque tone, addressing them all at once. ‘We’ve all just been the victim of a spell gone wrong. Some lowly being has attempted to hoax us by using some very dangerous magic.’

‘Not quite.’ A young man appears from the hall. ‘Not magic, but science.’ He takes off his goggles and wipes the coloured debris from them. ‘Still working out the kinks.’

Perry flutters over to him, her real cloak is much longer than the costume was. ‘This is magic, dear, whether you realise it or not.’

‘Regardless,’ he says as he sidesteps her, ‘congratulations! You’re officially the first students to enter the Alchemy Club tonight. Everyone else has been avoiding us.’

‘Can’t imagine why.’ LaFontaine snorts.

He smiles. ‘I’m happy to report that you’ve all just been transformed in to your costumes! A very successful experiment on our part. Or mine, to be more exact.’

Danny looks like she’s about to step forward and throttle him when he pipes up again.

‘Relax, queenie. It can all be reversed.’

‘For a price, I assume.’ Danny sneers.

‘Just the low, low price of all of your candy.’

LaFontaine groans. After the ordeal with the dragon, Perry isn’t feeling particularly inclined to hand anything over either.

‘What do you even want with a Zeta dorm? You have an entire house to yourselves.’ Perry says.

‘Oh come on, we all know that Zeta boy was a wolf. Imagine the samples he left behind in that room?’

‘He left weeks ago.’ Danny said. ‘There’s probably no trace of him left.’

‘Do you really think the Zetas vacuum their rooms?’ He asks.

Well, he’s got them there. Perry glances around the room. Betty looks terrified, Danny looks murderous, Laura is desperately trying to wipe the blood away from her mouth, and Carmilla is still clenching her chest.

She meets LaFontaine’s eyes. With a small sigh, they nod.

‘Alright, here.’ She doesn’t even have to move this time to make the bags of candy soar over to him. 

He clasps his hands together. ‘Right then! Ladies, if you would be so kind?’ He gestures in front of himself. Everyone other than LaFontaine shuffles over. He looks confused for a moment before realising what he’s just said. ‘I’m sorry,’ he corrects himself, ‘everyone please stand in front of me.’

So he’s brain dead, but not a complete jerk. That doesn’t make Perry dislike him any less.

Once everyone is assembled before him, he pulls out a packet of silver dust from behind his back. The others take a wary step backwards, but he raises a hand to stop them. ‘I can assure you; there will be no more explosions. Pleasure doing business with you.’ He empties a portion in to his hand, and blows it over them. 

A very large pile lands directly on Carmilla’s face. She coughs and wipes it off. 

Nothing happens.

‘Hmm…’ he says as he examines the packet in his hand, but if he was going to say anything else, he’s stopped dead by Danny hurling herself in his direction and kicking him in the face.

‘Jesus, Danny!’ Betty yells. ‘No Amazon-queen-kicks to the face!’

Laura steps forward and pulls her off with ease, but she immediately steps away and looks ashamed. Danny’s face softens and she places a hand on her shoulder.

‘It wasn’t your fault, Laura. It’s okay.’

She bows her head. Perry watches Carmilla sidle up beside her. 

‘Cupcake,’ she says, placing a finger under her chin and lifting her head up, ‘it’s okay. It’s just kind of this natural thing that happens – it’s instinct. It had nothing to do with you.’ She glances over at Danny, who’s moved back toward Betty. ‘And have you seen her neck? You barely nipped her. That thing’s so thick I don’t think even a sword could penetrate it.’

Nobody laughs except Carmilla. She doesn’t seem to notice.

‘Listen,’ she continues, ‘it’s just some stupid prank. It’s not permanent. Take a page out my book and just,’ she sucks in a long breath, ‘breathe.’

This time Laura does laugh, and Carmilla kisses the corner of her mouth.

‘Hate to interrupt, but has anybody noticed that we’re still stuck like this?’ LaFontaine walks over to the Alchemy Club guy and jabs him in the chest. ‘What’s the deal, son?’

He rubs his chest before opening his mouth. A bruise is already forming on his cheek from Danny’s kick. ‘I – I don’t know.’

LaFontaine’s grip on their gun tightens. ‘Don’t make me take you in for questioning, boy, I can guarantee you won’t enjoy it.’

‘No, I really don’t know! This powder should have reversed the effects.’

Perry sweeps forward and snatches it from his hand. ‘This stuff is useless, I _told_ you, that wasn’t just some sciencey concoction you cooked up, it was a spell.’

He rubs the back of his neck. ‘Well, I may have gotten some inspiration from an old book I found in the library.’

Her eyes wash over the room until she spots something that sends a familiar tweak through her body. She walks over to retrieve it and shoves it in to his hands. ‘This book, by any chance?’

He looks a little scared to respond, which tells her she already knows the answer.

Perry turns away from him to address everybody else. ‘Okay, I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news is; I know how to reverse the effects.’

Everybody looks relieved, she holds her hand up. ‘Not so fast. Bad news is; if we don’t reverse it before midnight, we’ll be stuck like this.’

Carmilla steps forward. ‘For how long?’

She glances at LaFontaine before answering.

‘Forever.’


	2. Chapter 2

Laura begins pacing. Considering her current state, “forever” means something very different for her compared to the others. Carmilla seems to sense how she’s feeling because she snakes an arm around her waist and squeezes.

Perry sends the Alchemy guy off with an ice pack and a stern warning that she’ll be back later to ‘discuss his behaviour’. Laura doesn’t envy him. 

Carmilla withdraws her arm and takes a step towards Perry, ‘So what the hell do we do now?’

‘Yeah, Ginny, what’s the plan?’ Danny asks. Perry doesn’t look amused. ‘Ginny, get it? With the red hair and the magic and –‘

Perry interrupts her. ‘The _plan_ is to reverse the spell.’

‘Right, and how exactly do we do that?’ Danny is picking at the fabric over her chest. If she thought Laura’s adjustments were too revealing, she’s probably feeling pretty exposed right about now.

‘Well, I know the spell, but I don’t have the ingredients.’

Laura glances at Carmilla. She knows she’s about to say something rude, so she leans over and grabs her arm. Carmilla winces and Laura immediately lets go. She guesses she doesn’t really know her own strength yet.

‘So where do we find the ingredients, then?’ Betty addresses them for the first time tonight, and Laura is a little taken aback. Maybe she’s got more confidence as a fairy.

‘My dear, that is the tricky part.’ Perry practically glides over to LaFontaine, who is gripping their holstered gun with one hand. ‘We’ll need to split in to teams.’

Laura opens her mouth to argue, but is cut off before she can speak.

‘I know it isn’t ideal, but we really don’t have time to travel in one group.’

‘Why?’ Laura asks. ‘What are we even looking for?’

Perry raises her wand, which was previously a piece of cheap plastic and now looks like it was carved out of an ancient gnarled tree branch, and creates a map of the campus. It hovers in the air and illuminates their faces with a pale gold light.

‘Here,’ she says, and a red X appears over the forest, ‘is where we’ll find the Leopard’s Bane. It’s a yellow flower that only grows in spring, so we’ll have to go deep in to the forest to find any that haven’t died yet.’

‘Great,’ Carmilla says, ‘and who gets the honour of trying not to get killed in the deadliest part of the entire country?’

‘Danny and Betty.’

‘Oh,’ Carmilla grins, ‘gotta say I’m actually with you on this decision Red.’ 

‘Hold on a second, why don’t I get a say in where I get sent off to?’ Danny asks.

‘Because it is the most logical decision. The forest will be no match for an Amazon queen and a fairy princess.’

‘Where did we get _queen_ from, who said anything about a queen?’

‘Oh.’ Betty says, and she’s almost whispering, but Laura can hear her just fine. ‘The symbols on your face… Danny, you’ve got a crown on your head.’

Danny pushes past them to a mirror hanging on the opposite wall. Perry continues, ‘The next ingredient to be recovered is a piece of moonstone coral.’

‘Let me guess,’ Carmilla says, voice dripping with sarcasm, ‘we’ll find that in a nice dry spot on campus that isn’t going to drown us?’

‘You and Laura will find it in a reef about ten miles from here.’ Another glowing X appears in the air. Carmilla’s whole face lights up in red.

‘Oh, you mean that monstrous one that stops short of the Styrian mountains? Great! No chance I’m going to freeze my ass off over there.’

‘It’s not going to be a problem for a vampire, dear.’

‘Haven’t I done enough deep-sea diving for you people?’

‘You won’t be the one doing it.’

‘I will.’ Laura says suddenly. In the midst of Perry’s plan, she’s almost forgotten what’s just actually happened. ‘I’m the vampire now.’

Carmilla’s face drops. She turns to point a finger at Perry. ‘No deal, Red. It’s not safe for Laura to go down there. She’s been a vampire for all of five minutes!’

‘Well then, are you volunteering?’

‘I am!’

‘No, Carmilla.’ Laura pulls her over so that their eyes meet. ‘It’s safer for me than it is for you. If this is what it takes to turn me back… I’m risking it.’

Carmilla opens and closes her mouth a few times before giving up. She presses her forehead against Laura’s. ‘I’ll be by your side the whole way.’

Laura closes her eyes for a moment. ‘I know.’ She opens them and turns back toward Perry and LaF. ‘So where does that leave you two?’

‘We’ll be retrieving the third and final ingredient, which is a dragon’s egg.’

LaFontaine snorts. ‘Honey, I know we got away in the library, but that doesn’t make us dragon experts. I’ve only got so many bullets.’

‘We won’t be going to the library. We’ll be going under it.’

The map dips and ripples in to a new image of what Laura presumes is some kind of underground cave. The last X appears briefly, before the whole map fades away in to nothing.

‘We’ve got four hours. Once you’ve got your ingredients, wait by the edge of the forest, and the rest of us will meet you there.’ Her eyes flick to Carmilla and back. Carmilla doesn’t notice it, but Laura’s eyes aren’t missing anything right now. ‘It is imperative that this spell is reversed before midnight. The consequences are direr than you can imagine. Let’s go.’ She and LaFontaine disappear in a burst of green sparks.

‘Nice of her to give us a ride.’ Carmilla coughs. ‘Think you can manage teleportation yet, cupcake?’

Laura shakes her head. Her whole body feels unfamiliar right now.

‘That’s okay we can walk. Better get a move on ginger giant, you don’t wanna be stuck in that outfit forever.’

Danny is too busy examining her crown to respond. Either that, or she’s just pretending she didn’t hear her.

Laura follows Carmilla out of the house and back in to the fresh air. She can smell the dew on the grass.

‘Are you ready for this?’ Carmilla asks.

Laura swallows. ‘No.’

She smiles, but it’s half-hearted. ‘Me neither.’

Together, they set off in to the shadows.

/

They fall to their knees, sputtering, and take in their surroundings. It’s the library, but this time there are no candles. There also seems to be no trace of the campus dragon.

‘A little warning next time, Perr?’ They rise to their feet and readjust the badge pinned on their uniform. An immense feeling of pride swells in their chest when they touch it. It’s almost like they can feel the history behind the small piece of metal – even if that history never technically existed.

‘I’m sorry, darling, but time is of the essence.’

They dust off their knees and walk over to the wall that she seems to be examining.

‘Not looking for another secret passageway by any chance?’ They grin.

She pulls a candelabrum toward them and a small portion of the wall slides across, revealing a pitch-black passageway.

‘You never cease to amaze me,’ they say before crouching down to look through it.

‘That spell gave me a lot of insight.’

They look up at her. ‘This isn’t the spell, Perr. This is all you.’

The corner of her mouth twitches up in to a smile that makes LaFontaine’s heart jolt. She’s never more beautiful than when she’s smiling.

‘After you, dear.’

LaF unholsters their gun. ‘Stay behind me.’ They know that right now Perry is much more powerful than a gun, but they can’t help but still feel protective of her.

Perry follows behind them in silence for two minutes before they speak. ‘So I know that _time is of the essence_ and that none of us want to be stuck like this, but what did you mean about the dire consequences?’

It takes a moment for LaF to realise that she’s stopped walking. They pause too and turn back to face her. The expression she’s wearing never means anything good.

‘Some of it might not seem so bad – a fairy princess, a police officer, and an amazon; but for Laura, there’s no turning back.’

They frown. She’s holding something back. ‘That’s kind of a given. Something tells me there’s more to it than that.’

Perry sucks her bottom lip in to her mouth. ‘Short-term spells don’t leave behind much damage, at least not on us. But give it two days and we’ll all start to lose ourselves. Our memories, our families, our friends, our… partners; we won’t even remember each other.’ 

They can’t imagine a world where they don’t know and love Perry, but there is more to this. Maybe it’s the police officer in them, but _something_ is telling them that there is another detail being left out. They don’t speak; they just wait for Perry to go on. After a moment, she does.

‘As for Carmilla… she’ll die. And I don’t mean eventually. It’s a strange kind of magic that keeps vampires alive, and once that magic fades away, time will catch up with her. Essentially, she’ll rot to death.’

LaFontaine feels bile rise in their throat. They can’t imagine a death more horrific than that one, and the thought of Laura having an eternity to mourn... _that_ is a fate worse than death.

‘So we’ll stop it,’ they say, ‘we’ll get the ingredients and we’ll save the day.’ They lift Perry’s chin up. ‘Hey, it’s kind of what we do, we make the weird submit.’

For the first time since the spell, Perry laughs. LaF presses a kiss to her lips and tastes salt. They’re not sure which of them has been crying. Maybe it’s both.

‘Come on,’ they start walking back down the tunnel, ‘time is of the essence after all.’

‘You know, we won’t be the only ones affected by this spell.’ Perry says.

‘What does _that_ mean?’ This all-knowing thing is the tiniest bit disconcerting.

‘We’ve been changed, so some people around campus will have changed too, because they need to view us as these characters we’ve become.’

‘People like who?’ They ask, looking back at her.

Perry smirks. ‘You’ll see.’

/

They’re almost out of the campus grounds when it happens. Danny is hit from behind and topples over, taking Betty with her.

‘Hey! What the fu- oh my god.’

She can’t believe her eyes. Standing above her is an almost unrecognisable Kirsch, covered in face paint and wearing _an animal hide bikini._

Of _course_ Kirsch would dress as a Summer Society Amazon, of _course_ he would be that much of an asshole. 

Betty’s mouth is open. ‘Is that - ?’

‘Yep.’ Danny says.

‘I’m sorry!’ Kirsch scrambles to help her back up. ‘We’ve just been looking for you and I got a little over-excited! A thousand apologies.’ He dips down on one knee and _bows_. 

Danny helps Betty up and whispers out of the corner of her mouth, ‘What the hell is this?’

‘You’re a queen remember? I guess a queen has gotta have followers.’

Danny barks out a laugh. Oh, this is rich.

‘So, I’m _your_ queen, then?’

Kirsch looks confused. ‘Of course you are, Danny.’

‘You mean _your majesty_.’ Betty grins.

‘Of course!’ He bows again before his eyes flick to Betty. ‘And you would be…?’

‘Mine.’ Danny says and immediately blushes; it just kind of came out of her mouth. She looks at Betty but can’t see any trace of discomfort. ‘I trust that won’t be an issue for you?’

‘Of course not, any bro of the queen is a bro of mine.’ His brow furrows. ‘Bro-ess.’

Good to see there’s still a little bit of real Kirsch left in there.

Danny and Betty are both grinning.

‘Now, when you say “we” - ’ but before Betty can finish her sentence, a swarm of Summer Society girls are upon them.

A few of them rush toward Betty but are stopped by Kirsch. She darts behind Danny and peeks over the top of her shoulder at them.

‘Don’t hurt her!’ Kirsch instructs. ‘She’s under our protection.’

Betty’s glowing a little bit stronger now, and something tells Danny she doesn’t need anybody’s protection.

They both stand there awkwardly for a moment while the Summer Society girls faun over Danny. She can’t be sure, but the look on Betty’s face could almost be interpreted as jealousy, so she orders the girls to step away from them.

‘Look, it’s great to see all of you guys, but we’re kind of in a hurry. So if you’ll excuse us…’ Danny turns and walks away, but the group just follows behind her.

Betty frowns. ‘We can’t go in to the forest with this herd behind us, we’ll never get through it in time.’

‘Well, what do you want me to do?’

Betty bites her lip. ‘I don’t know; send them on a mission or something. They’ll love it.’

Danny considers this for a moment before she’s struck by an excellent idea. She steps away from Betty to whisper something in to Kirsch’s ear. He nods and strides off with the other Amazons.

‘What did you tell them to do?’ 

Danny smirks. ‘Something that will keep them busy. Come on, we’ve just wasted five minutes. That’s half an hour in Perry-time.’

They set off side-by-side toward the looming forest.

/

Carmilla kicks a rock. At this rate, it’s going to take them three hours to walk to the reef, and that doesn’t leave them much time to get home.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to try teleportation?’ She asks for the twentieth time.

‘Oh, sure, I don’t mind _trying_ it, so long as you’re comfortable leaving half a limb behind when I screw it up.’

‘That’s not how it works, cupcake.’

Laura frowns. ‘Harry Potter lied to me.’

She kicks the rock a little further ahead of them. There’s a weird kind of tension lingering between them and Carmilla can’t quite figure out what’s causing it.

‘Carm?’

She knows Laura well enough to sense that this tone means they should stop walking. She turns to face her. ‘Yes?’

‘Are you sure you actually want to reverse this spell?’

She can’t really see her face, but she knows Laura can see every detail of hers. Enhanced vampire senses are really a pain in the ass when you’re on the receiving end of them. She steadies her breathing.

‘Of course I want to reverse it. Do you think I want this life for you?’

There’s no heart rate for Carmilla to listen to. No breathing to indicate what Laura may be feeling.

‘I’m not talking about me; let’s just remove me from the equation. I mean, wouldn’t you rather stay a human than go back to this?’ She gestures at herself.

Carmilla swallows. She wasn’t expecting to be asked this, which is foolish on her part. Of course Laura would ask her this question.

It had been forty-five minutes since the spell happened, and even though it was a little bit difficult adjusting to her normal human senses, she was enjoying the feeling of a heart beating in her chest again. In this brief period of freedom, she really did feel like a girl; not a monster dressed up as one. 

Had she been thinking of what it would be like to stay like this? Of course she had. If it had been six months ago, she would have already abandoned them all so she could keep living like this. But now there is Laura. Sweet, loving, too-good-for-this-world Laura. Living sunshine. She could never let her live in the shadows. She loves her too much for that.

She starts walking again. ‘Humans are boring creatures that wander around the earth spouting bad aphorisms and listening to bad music. I wouldn’t want to go back to that, are you kidding me? I’m exalted.’

Laura doesn’t seem convinced. Carmilla pushes on before she can press any further.

‘Look, cupcake, I know you’re just a baby vamp but we really need to get there soon if we’re going to reverse this crap before midnight.’

‘I _can’t_ , Carm, I don’t know what I’m doing.’

‘Hey,’ she stops and takes Laura’s hands in hers, ‘I’ll guide you through it.’

Laura pouts, but they both know it’s the only option.

‘All right, how do we start?’ She sighs.

‘You need to concentrate on where you want to go.’

She pulls away from her. ‘But I’ve never been there!’

‘Just listen.’ Carmilla pulls her back and rests their foreheads together. ‘Close your eyes.’ She does. ‘You don’t have to envision the reef, just think about it. Why do you want to go there? Concentrate.’

‘Carm, I feel weird.’

‘It’s okay, I’m right here. Just concentrate. The harder you concentrate, the more that feeling will build inside of you. It’s natural.’

She can feel Laura’s body tensing. It’s never going to work if she doesn’t relax.

Carmilla tilts her head just enough to catch Laura’s lips, and then she feels everything fall away around them. It’s a little less comfortable being the tag-along mortal on this ride, but she trusts Laura.

Suddenly, they come crashing down on to a jagged rock. Carmilla falls to her knees. Her nose is bleeding.

Laura crouches down beside her. ‘Oh my god, are you okay? I’m sorry I think I did it wrong! Oh, Carm, you’re bleeding!’

‘I’m fine, cupcake.’ That’s not entirely true, it feels like she left her insides back at Silas, but she’s not injured. ‘You were perfect.’

‘I feel a little woozy.’ She sits down beside her. ‘How do you do this so often?’

‘It gets easier.’

They both look out over the vastness of the water. They’re sitting on a lone rock that’s jutting out of the base of the mountain. The opposite shore looks like it’s a good two miles away. They’ve landed right above the reef.

‘Are you ready for this?’

Laura places her hand over her forehead. ‘I don’t know. I think I have a headache. Do vampires get headaches? Do your brains still work?’

‘Well, you met Will, you tell me?’ Laura smiles. ‘You’re just a little disorientated from the trip. You need blood.’

The smile is quickly replaced by a frown. ‘I won’t bite you.’

‘Oh, so Danny’s good enough to eat, but I’m not? I gotta say, I’m a little offended.’ Laura isn’t amused. Carmilla sighs. ‘Look, we’ve just gotta get through tonight in one piece, which means you’ve got to get that coral and we’ve got to get back home. Without my blood, you won’t be strong enough to teleport back.’

She opens her mouth to argue, but Carmilla quickly covers it with her own. The blood from her nose has trickled down to her lips, and she knows that once Laura gets a taste, she’s going to have to take more.

Baby vamps have a hard time controlling themselves. But if she almost completely drains her, she’ll still be able to help Laura get back in time and reverse the spell. Death doesn’t feel like a cruel fate to Carmilla. It feels more like a blessing.

She can feel Laura’s lips trembling against her mouth.

‘It’s okay, Laura,’ she says, and Laura instantly moves to her throat.

Carmilla had been bitten by a vampire before, but that was three hundred years ago, and that was murder. This felt a little… different.

The pain that she was expecting came, but just for a moment. It quickly divulged in to something more. Something that made her whole body feel hot and caused her stomach muscles to tighten.

Wow. If she dies, this is how she wants to go out.

But before the feeling in her stomach reaches its peak, soft lips replace the fangs on her neck. 

Carmilla blinks and she starts speaking before she really knows what she’s saying. ‘The instinct to kill can be overwhelming when you’ve just been turned.’

Laura places a curt kiss to her lips. Their eyes lock.

‘Some instincts are stronger than others.’

If she ever doubted Laura’s love for her, this cements it.

‘Well, come on, it’s your turn to retrieve something mystical from the bottom of the ocean.’

Laura laughs, and then turns to face the water. It looks like black glass. ‘Wish me luck.’

She slips in to the darkness.

/

The moonlight is barely breaking through the trees, but luckily, Betty’s blue aura is now lighting the way.

Danny moves expertly through the foliage, avoiding every twig and branch. Betty is even more silent than she is – but that’s only because she started hovering above the ground about twenty minutes ago.

‘So,’ Betty whispers, ‘this is probably creepier than the library.’

‘You haven’t seen the library. I think I’d rather camp here than visit there past sunset.’

Betty raises an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think an Amazon queen should be afraid of a few flying books.’

‘How about a dragon?’

‘You could take a dragon.’

Danny grins. ‘I suppose an Amazon warrior _could_ defeat a dragon.’

‘I’m not talking about Amazon Danny, I’m talking about regular Danny. On either side of this spell, you’re still a warrior.’

Is this flirting? This feels like flirting.

‘And I’m sure you can take care of yourself any day of the week too.’

‘Maybe, but I can’t hover.’

‘Anybody can hover when the Alchemy Club is around.’

‘So what’s with those - ’

‘Shh!’ Danny whispers. They both stop moving. She points to their right. ‘We’re not alone.’

Betty pulls her wand out. Danny smiles because she probably doesn’t even know what to do with it, but she still wouldn’t want to be on the business end of it.

A soft silver glow is emanating from behind a few thick trees. Danny narrows her eyes. She can’t see a defined shape anywhere. Great, it could be anything.

Danny signals for Betty to follow behind her and starts moving towards it. Whatever it is, it makes no attempt to get away from them. It isn’t until she rounds the tree that she realises what it is.

‘It’s a Tree Spirit,’ she whispers over her shoulder. Betty looks confused. ‘Don’t ask me how I know. I just… do.’

She takes a few careful steps towards it, and it spins around to face her.

‘Hey little buddy, it’s okay.’ Danny extends her hand towards it. ‘I’m not here to hurt you.’

It’s a very difficult creature to describe. If Danny had to choose a word, it would probably be ‘childlike’. This creature definitely isn’t a threat.

It’s suspended in the air, and she’s not entirely sure that it’s corporeal as it drifts forward to sniff at her hand. Danny giggles. She can’t help herself.

‘It’s okay, Betty. Come here.’

Slowly, Betty touches back down to the earth and approaches the two of them. She looks very nervous, and Danny finds it totally adorable.

‘You can touch it, if you’d like.’

Betty reaches out, but her hand is trembling.

‘Don’t be scared,’ Danny whispers. She places a gentle hand on to her arm and guides her toward the spirit.

It retreats back for a moment, but then drifts forward again to sniff at Betty.

‘It’s beautiful,’ she says.

Her soft blue glow is mingling with the silvery light of the Tree Spirit.

‘Yeah,’ Danny says, ‘beautiful.’

Betty’s eyes flit away from the spirit and lock on to Danny’s. The light is shimmering across her face. Danny’s heart is probably beating loud enough for everything in the forest to hear it.

Betty is leaning forward, slowly.

Danny leans forward too.

Her eyes drift down to look at Betty’s lips. They can’t be more than a few millimetres apart now.

Betty takes a shaky breath. Danny does the same, bracing herself.

The silver glow vanishes and they snap back from each other.

‘Where did it go? Danny, where did it go?’

Danny glances around them. ‘I don’t know. Maybe - ’

Orange light bursts out from behind them, spilling out across the forest. Danny feels like she’s just swallowed an icicle.

‘RUN!’

But it’s too late. A much larger spirit comes crashing toward them, tearing down branches in its wake.

‘This one’s not so friendly!’ Danny yells as she wrenches a knife from a sheath strapped to her thigh.

The light is burning her eyes. Everything looks like it’s on fire. She’s finding it difficult to actually spot the spirit amongst everything until it’s right in front of her. 

Some kind of limb collides with her stomach and sends her flying back through the air. Her back smacks in to a very thick tree and the wind is knocked out of her lungs.

She can’t see Betty anywhere. She tries to call out, but she can’t find her voice.

With one arm clinging to her side (where she may have just broken a rib or two), she runs back towards the light.

Danny squints and manages to make out some part of the spirit’s body and hurls her knife towards it, but it passes straight through it.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

Betty’s voice comes from her left. ‘Danny, look out!’ 

She ducks and manages to avoid a rock to the face. As if acting on some kind of prior experience, Danny pulls a vial from the inside of her boot and pegs it at the spirit. A puff of purple smoke explodes, and the blinding orange light falters.

But it’s a short-lived relief, because the light explodes around them and seems to be three times brighter than it was before.

‘Christ, I wish this thing would just fucking die!’ Danny screams.

And it vanishes as quickly as it came, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

Danny’s eyes are struggling to adjust to the abrupt darkness, but she can see Betty’s soft blue light moving towards her.

‘Where did it go?’ Danny says quietly. ‘What the hell just happened?’

‘I think… I think I can grant wishes.’

Danny’s jaw drops. _Grant wishes?_ Could this night get any stranger?

She better not ask that out loud. It might jinx them.

‘Why am I only hearing about this now?’

Betty folds her arms across her chest. ‘Well, I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me you had some weird spirit-vanquishing powder in your boot.’

‘I didn’t know that either! I mean, on some level I did. I don’t really understand it.’ Danny leans against a tree and closes her eyes for a moment. ‘How much time do we have left?’

‘Two and a half hours.’

Her eyes snap back open. 

‘I wish the spell would be reversed.’

Nothing happens. Betty frowns.

‘I wish I had some Leopard’s Bane.’

Again, nothing happens. This is bullshit. Danny groans.

‘Why isn’t this working?’ She kicks the trunk of the tree.

‘Hey now, let’s not piss off any more ancient forest spirits,’ Betty says. Danny glares at her. She bites her lip and frowns. ‘Wishes normally have catches. We just need to think outside of the box, we can’t ask for anything directly if it relates to the spell. I think it’s because the spell gave me these powers.’

Danny frowns. ‘Uh… I wish we could find the Leopard’s Bane faster.’

Nothing happens.

‘Ugh, this is useless!’ Danny steps away from the tree and is about to yell some more when Betty silences her.

‘Shh! Look over there.’

A tiny ball of bright pink light is floating a few feet away from them. Betty takes a tentative step towards it, and it drifts a bit further away. ‘It’s a guide,’ she says, and sets off after it.

Danny sighs and wonders how many more glowing lights they’ll have to deal with before this night is over.

/

Perry and LaF have been walking in silence for a while now. They’re close to the heart of the cave. Somehow, Perry’s been able to navigate this ridiculous labyrinth, and they’ve never been more grateful to have her by their side.

They’ve definitely been walking for well over an hour and the back of LaFontaine’s neck is starting to sweat. The others are relying on them and they’re moving too slowly.

A cool hand touches their shoulder.

‘There,’ Perry whispers.

A very faint light is flickering ahead of them. They’re finally here.

‘Quietly, now.’

Perry didn’t need to add that. There was no way LaF was about to stomp in to a dragon’s lair.

It only takes a minute to reach the end of the tunnel, and at this point they’re crawling. They shuffle to the side so Perry can squeeze in. She extends her hand and it starts trembling, but nothing happens.

So much for her ‘I’ll just float them over’ plan. She turns to face them and her eyes are riddled with panic. LaFontaine feels their own heart rate quicken, but tries to keep their expression calm. 

Perry slides forward and brings her lips right against their ear. ‘My magic is blocked. This dragon is extremely powerful. There’s protection spells over the nest.’

They close their eyes for a moment. There’s no time to devise a new plan. They’ve got to move.

It’s about a six-foot drop to the ground. Not a long fall, but it might make a noise when they land.

They glance back at Perry, hoping that she can read their expression.

And she does. Of course she does. She pulls some socks out of her purse (she always carries a spare pair – or four) and hands them over. LaF slips them on over their shoes, turns around, and slides backwards on their stomach.

Very slowly, they lower themself down as far as they can before dropping the rest of the way. They only make a very small ‘thud’ when they make contact with the rocky ground, but their heart still jumps up in to their throat.

Perry has one leg lowered out. They grab it and start sliding her back up. Perry turns back and looks at them. They shake their head. There’s no use in both of them dying. If LaF can’t get the egg, Perry’s the only one that stands a chance at finding another way to reverse the spell.

She doesn’t look happy, but she doesn’t attempt to climb down again. Instead she lies flat and pulls her wand out.

The light in here is so weak that they can barely see a thing. They turn back to Perry and tap beside their eye.

With the tiniest wave of her wand, she illuminates the entire cave. That’s what LaF thinks at first, and then they realise that the spell hasn’t affected the cave, it’s affected their vision.

Wow, they’ve probably got two giant pupils for eyes right now.

They give a thumbs-up and turn around, and then their stomach drops.

Before them, in full technicolour vision, is a sleeping dragon. Not a cat-sized dragon that likes to nap on bookshelves and chase students through the stacks; a full-blown medieval dragon.

They back up a few paces until their back hits the wall. They glance up and Perry tries to offer a reassuring smile, but she looks just as terrified.

LaFontaine blinks. They’re running out of time. Laura, Carmilla, Danny, and Betty are running out of time. Perry is running out of time.

They swallow and take a few steps towards it. It doesn’t stir. That’s… comforting.

Three enormous scaled eggs are resting in the middle of its curled tail. 

When LaFontaine was five they saved a nest of bird eggs when their dog killed the mother. Why couldn’t this dragon just keep its eggs inside a glass case with a light bulb suspended above them?

They swallow and take another step forward. The tip of its tail twitches and LaF freezes on the spot. After a moment, it lets out a monstrous sigh, and its tail relaxes.

Their breathing is growing shallow, and they desperately try to keep it under control. Their hands have never shaken this badly before in their life.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

A few more steps forward. Their heart is pounding so hard it’s giving them a headache.

Another few steps. They’re almost there.

Their jaw tenses as they lean over its tail. Shallows breaths. Their hands close around one of the eggs.

Great, it must weigh about thirty pounds. They barely lift it off the ground and then drop it. It clinks against the stone. LaFontaine shuts their eyes, bracing themself, but nothing happens. The dragon doesn’t stir.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This time, they spread their feet apart to help distribute the weight more evenly. After adjusting their grip on it a few times, they lift it above the dragon’s tail and take a few steps back. Once they clear the tail, they heave it up and hold it against their chest.

Holy shit. Did they actually just steal a _dragon egg_ from a _dragon’s nest?_

Right. Neither the time nor the place.

Step by step, they make their way back to Perry. It takes a few tries, but they manage to pass the egg up to her. She frantically motions for LaFontaine to climb back up.

They look at the wall. There are a few notches, but none of them look particularly sturdy, and one false move could wake the dragon.

No pressure.

They decide to rely on their instincts and step up on to the wall. It feels pretty solid beneath their shoe, so they hoist themself up and grip the edge of the tunnel’s entrance. They’re almost back up when their foot slips, breaking their foothold and sending a chunk of rock to the ground.

It makes a loud CRACK that echoes around them.

Oh god.

Two enormous yellow eyes snap open. LaFontaine’s heart stops. This is it. This is how they die.

Perry’s hands close around their arms and drag them back on to the ledge.

‘Go, go, go!’ LaF yells.

Perry hurls the egg down the tunnel and it rolls out of sight. They both start crawling as fast as they can until it becomes wide enough to run.

The gap isn’t large enough for the dragon to fit through, and it’s shrieking on the other side.

A strange sound is building behind them, like oxygen being sucked from a room.

‘RUN LAF!’ Perry screams, and they bolt as hard as they can.

They look over their shoulder and see a green light growing brighter.

Dragon fire.

Their feet are slamming in to the ground, hurtling them forward, but it’s not fast enough. They can feel the heat building. Perry has to pause for a moment to roll the egg forward again, and LaF crashes in to her. They both tumble forward as the fire reaches them.

Luckily, it’s the very edge of the blast. It barely catches LaFontaine’s hair, singeing the tip of it.

‘Ah, not again,’ they groan.

‘Come on,’ Perry says as she helps them up, ‘they’ll be waiting for us.’

LaF scoops up the egg and follows Perry back to the library.

/

Laura’s been propelling herself directly downward for ages, and she’s finally starting to feel the cold. It doesn’t sting her skin like when she was a human, but it certainly feels uncomfortable. The pressure is starting to hurt her head a little.

It’s a very surreal feeling to not need oxygen, and she accidentally swallows some water a couple of times when she feels the instinct to breathe. This whole evening is pretty surreal.

It’s beautiful down here. Normally, she’d be terrified to swim in an open body of water this late at night, but she feels safe. She can see _everything_ , even the tiny schools of fish that keep flitting away from her.

And finally, just ahead of her, she sees a vast silver field of coral. This must be it.

She drifts down until her shoes make contact with something solid, and she walks over to it. Her body feels different. If she were a human, she would have just floated back up to the top, but it’s almost as if she has more control of the gravity around her now. It’s wild.

The coral is shimmering before her, and she understands how it earned its name. It’s beautiful. She almost wishes she didn’t have to break a piece off.

But she does have to, so she leans down and does it. She was expecting to possibly be cut from a jagged edge, but it doesn’t feel rough in her hand. It almost feels like it isn’t there, like it’s halfway between this world and another.

Wow. Being a vampire really does turn you in to a poetic sap.

She pockets the coral and is about to kick off from the bank when something catches her eye. It’s a blue jewel nestled in to the sand. 

Curiosity has always been her downfall.

Laura edges toward it and leans down to scoop it up. As soon as it touches her hand, it burns.

She falls to her knees and tries to scream, but her voice ripples away in to nothing. She can’t let go of it; it’s attached itself to her hand.

The fish disappear. She can’t see the coral anymore. Everything’s being replaced by some kind of flickering vision. She tries blinking it away, but soon she’s immersed in it, surrounded by it.

She sees Perry, riddled with age, leaning over a grave and weeping. There’s a tombstone. It reads: LAFONTAINE. She sees herself walk up beside her and place a hand on her shoulder, but it’s batted away. Perry is screaming that it’s her fault.

She sees Danny lying in an open casket. She doesn’t look old enough to be there. Kirsch is laying flowers at her feet. She sees herself sitting in the back row, alone, with a black veil over her eyes.

She sees her father, quietly slipping away by the fire with a book in his hand. She sees herself standing beside him. Forever nineteen.

She sees Carmilla, but she looks awful, like she’s dying of a disease. She’s grasping at Laura’s collar, begging her to kill her. And she does.

Laura can feel herself floating, but she can’t control it. Her body won’t respond to her commands. She’s drifting aimlessly in the water.

The visions replay themselves. Over and over again. She sees herself laying flowers at all of their graves.

A pair of hands close around her shoulders and drag her up on to a rock. The visions vanish just in time for her to see Carmilla tossing the jewel back.

Laura rolls over and retches in to the water. She crawls back and rests her head on Carmilla’s lap. Warm fingers run through her hair. She starts sobbing.

‘There are all kinds of horrid mystical things surrounding the campus, Laura. You’ve just been unlucky enough to discover a Pelko gem. It sources its power from fear by projecting images in to your head.’ She kisses her forehead. ‘Don’t worry, it wasn’t real.’

She wipes her nose and sits up. ‘I thought… I thought I was seeing the future. Everyone was dead, Carm. Even you. I saw all of your graves.’

Carmilla smiles, but Laura’s never seen her look so sad. ‘It’s a lonely existence, cupcake.’

She’s always understood the concept of immortality, and she’s tried to understand what Carmilla has been through, but she’s never truly comprehended it until this moment. It feels like her heart is crumbling inside of her chest. 

Laura can’t imagine existing in that kind of crushing isolation. For her, it’s only been a few hours. For Carmilla, it’s been over three hundred years. She doesn’t want that life for herself. She doesn’t want that life for either of them.

‘Carm – ’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ She cups Laura’s face in her hands and kisses her. ‘You don’t have to worry about anything. Let’s go home.’

She senses that Carmilla’s not ready to have this conversation. Not yet.

‘In a minute, I just need a second to catch my breath.’ She grins.

Carmilla groans and rolls her eyes.

Anything to distract them from these thoughts.

/

The light has been gradually growing smaller for the last half mile, and finally, it wisps away in to nothing.

Danny glances around them. ‘I don’t recognise this place.’

‘Should you be recognising any parts of this forest?’

‘I don’t know… sometimes, I see things in here, and they feel kind of familiar.’ Betty raises an eyebrow at her. ‘It’s the spell, Betty.’

‘I know. I feel the same way.’

She feels an urge to link their hands together, but she doesn’t. There’s no time for it right now.

‘So what happened to your fancy little fairy light?’

Betty rolls her eyes. ‘It’s gone because the Leopard’s Bane is here, we just need to find it.’

Danny starts walking with her eyes trained to the ground. ‘Betty, come here, I need the light.’

She can’t see any flowers anywhere. The ground is covered in a kind of damp mulch from all of the decomposing plants. No yellow ones. She runs her fingers along the earth, trying to kick-start some kind of ancient Amazon instinct, but she doesn’t sense anything.

Betty, on the other hand, is sitting down with her back against a tree.

‘Betty, let’s look over here, I need your light.’

‘Shh.’

Danny frowns. She doesn’t like being shushed.

‘We’re running out of - ’

_‘Shh!’_

She’s about to protest some more when she spots a very pale yellow light about a yard ahead of them. She glances back at Betty and her eyes are closed. 

Oh, she’s doing something magic.

Rather than risk another shushing, she decides to just walk over to it. With a careful hand she brushes aside the mulch and finds a single yellow flower. It’s a little trampled, but it’s all in one piece, and it’s gorgeous.

‘Betty, I’ve got it.’

The pale light fades away. Betty lets out a sigh. ‘I wasn’t sure if that was going to work or not.’

‘Well it did, we’ve done it Betty. We can go home and this is all gonna be over soon.’

Betty stands up, walks over, and throws her arms around Danny’s neck. She stumbles back for a moment before returning the embrace.

‘Let’s go home,’ she says as she pulls back. Without speaking, she conjures up another pink light. ‘I know how to do it without being prompted now. Kind of cool, also kind of really weird.’

Danny laughs and sets off behind her.

When this is all over, they’re probably going to have to address these almost-romantic moments they’ve been having. Danny’s stomach does a flop.

She feels the way she always does around Betty.

Nervous and excited.

/

It’s twelve minutes to midnight and there’s still no sign of the girls. Perry starts to pace. All of the ingredients are ready (LaF had to crack the egg open with an axe) and now all they need is the coral and the Leopard’s Bane.

‘It’s okay, Perr. They’ll be here.’

‘You don’t know that. What if one of them died? And it’s going to be my fault because - ’

LaFontaine brings two hands down and grips her shoulders. Perry stops pacing.

‘Breathe, baby. Breathe.’ They say, and they press a soft kiss to her lips.

Perry sucks in three deep breaths.

Something cracks to their left. Something inside of the forest is moving. There’s a light coming towards them.

‘It’s Betty!’ Perry practically squeals, and runs in their direction. ‘Betty? Danny?’ And both of them emerge from the trees. ‘Oh my god.’ Perry pulls both of them in to her arms. ‘Did you find it?’

Danny retrieves a beautiful yellow flower from behind her back. ‘We got it.’

She takes it from her hand and plucks the petals, drops them in to mixture and crushes them down with a stone.

After LaFontaine embraces her, Danny glances around. ‘Where are Laura and Carmilla?’

Perry’s face drops. It’s ten minutes to midnight. ‘I don’t know. They aren’t back yet.’

Danny looks crushed, and Betty moves beside her to hold her hand. The four of them stand in a line and face toward the mountains. There’s no sign of them. They can’t hear anybody approaching.

It’s nine minutes to midnight.

A swirl of black smoke puffs up in front of them and two figures collapse on to the ground. Laura is soaking wet.

‘Oh my god!’ Danny falls to her knees and pulls Laura in to her arms. ‘We thought you were… thank the goddess you made it back safely.’ She stands and throws her arms around Carmilla before abruptly pulling back. ‘Uh… I’m glad you’re not dead.’

‘Thanks Xena, that really gets me right here,’ she taps against her heart. Danny rolls her eyes. 

Laura pulls herself up and hands the coral to Perry. She’s never seen anything look this magical. It’s almost a shame to crush it up. But with eight minutes left until midnight, Perry isn’t feeling too nostalgic.

She adds the final ingredient and watches as her concoction shimmers and swirls until there’s an almost translucent powder left. _‘This_ is what it should have looked like,’ she says. ‘Right, everyone form a circle please.’

The others shuffle around until they’re all surrounding her. Perry catches Carmilla’s eye, just for a moment, and they exchange a curt nod.

She knows Carmilla would probably rather die than go back to being a vampire. She recognises what she’s giving up for all of them right now, and her heart swells.

‘On my count. One, two,’ she tosses the powder over all of them, ‘three.’

There’s no blast this time, just a shimmer of light that washes over them and then filters away in to nothing.

‘Did it work?’ Danny asks.

Carmilla gives her a light shove that sends her reeling backwards. Looks her like vampire strength is back. ‘It worked,’ she smirks.

‘I might not be an Amazon anymore but I could still kick your ass, Elvira.’

Perry turns and embraces LaFontaine. It’s over.

‘What now?’ Betty asks.

Everyone looks at each other.

‘I guess we go and watch the Zeta weigh in,’ Danny suggests.

Carmilla groans. ‘Can’t we just go home now? I think I’ve had enough group bonding for one evening.’

Laura wraps her arms around her waist. ‘It’ll take fifteen minutes, tops.’ Carmilla doesn’t look convinced. ‘I promise, once it’s over, we can go back to our dorm room. And I’ll do that thing you like with my - ’

 _‘Ahem.’_ Perry clears her throat. Laura blushes. ‘Perhaps we should all get a move on if we want to make it there on time?’

LaFontaine takes her hand, and they lead the group back towards the campus.

/

If Kirsch remembers anything from the evening, it doesn’t show on his face. They’ve missed the first ten minutes, but Danny doesn’t mind. They were just weeding out the competition anyway.

The others don’t seem to understand why she was so eager to get here on time, but they’re about to find out. Betty is standing beside her.

Kirsch heaves a dozen or so bags on to the massive scales they must have borrowed from the Alchemy Club. The numbers flicker back and forth before they finally come to rest.

‘We have a winner!’ He yells, and the crowd erupts in cheers.

‘Who the hell managed to collect that many bags of candy?’ Betty whispers. ‘That would take an entire team of - ’

‘Come on up here, Danny Lawrence.’ Kirsch grins and extends a hand to pull her up on to the stage. Betty’s mouth falls open.

One of the Zeta guys hands her a very misshapen jellybean trophy and she cradles it in her arm. Carmilla is standing in the corner looking extremely sour. This might be the best victory she’s had to date.

Kirsch presses a small key attached to a Zeta Omega Mu keychain in to the palm of her hand. He pulls her in for a hug and whispers in to her ear, ‘I don’t remember anything if you don’t.’ He pulls back and waves at the crowd.

Danny takes a bow and climbs back down off the stage. Betty follows her back to the other girls.

‘How the fuck did you pull that off?’ Carmilla asks.

‘Oh my god,’ Betty gasps and grips the side of her arm, ‘you didn’t.’ Danny grins. ‘You _did_. I can’t believe it.’

‘What?’ Laura and LaFontaine both ask at the same time.

‘Nothing.’ Betty says quickly.

‘No, _how the fuck did you pull that off?_ ’ 

‘Magic.’ She gives Carmilla a shit-eating grin. ‘Come on, Betty. Let’s check out this room.’

She sweeps past them and can hear Carmilla mumbling something about how _‘if Laura had only let her use her own “magic” they would have won.’_

 

It’s a short walk to the building. Danny unlocks the door and swings it open to reveal the most lavish dorm room she’s ever seen.

‘Whoa!’ Betty says, spinning around to take it all in. ‘No expenses spared here, right?’

They both walk over and stand by the _enormous_ king-sized bed.

‘Isn’t it technically cheating to use a group of spellbound lackeys to collect your candy for you?’

Danny shrugs. ‘Use ‘em if you got ‘em.’

Betty smiles. They both fall silent for a moment. Danny takes a deep breath.

‘Look, about tonight, I know we were in a lot of life-or-death situations, and sometimes that can make a person behave a little drastically, but I just wanted to ask if - ’ but before she can finish her sentence, Betty kisses her.

It’s chaste, but it’s warm, and it feels like it sums up everything she was about to say.

Betty looks a little nervous. ‘So that’s where I’m at,’ she says, ‘just in case you were wondering.’

Danny grins and leans forward, capturing Betty’s lips. This kiss is longer, slower. 

They do this for a while, exchanging kisses on different parts of their bodies. Betty kisses her lips, then her jaw, then her neck, and then her lips again.

At the same time, they sink down on to the bed, wrapped up in each other. It’s comforting and it’s safe and it feels like home.

‘You know,’ Betty says, ‘you’ve still got one wish left.’ Danny raises an eyebrow. ‘And if you tell me it’s already come true I’m out of here.’

Danny snorts; she’d never say anything that sickeningly sweet, it feels too fake.

‘One wish left, hmm…’ she sucks her bottom lip in to her mouth, ‘I wish I was a millionaire.’

Betty props herself up on to her elbows. ‘Seriously?’

‘Is that no good? Then uh… I wish I owned a Ferrari.’

Betty hits her with a pillow. Danny laughs. ‘Hey I dunno, those are some pretty basic wishes, if you can’t grant those I’m not sure how powerful you are.’

Betty glares at her. ‘Close your eyes.’

‘And blow out the birthday candles?’

‘Just close your damn eyes.’

Danny grins, but she obeys. She feels the bed shift as Betty climbs off of it. After a moment, she hears her voice again, ‘You can open them now.’

The lights are dimmed, and Betty is standing in front of her with her dress around her ankles. Danny’s mouth drops open.

‘There’s the reaction I was looking for,’ she laughs.

Danny can’t help but blush. Betty kicks the dress away, walks over to the door, and locks it. ‘I wish you’d take that stupid costume off,’ she says.

She slips the material off and tosses it to the side. Betty smiles and walks back over to her, sliding herself on to her lap.

For the first time in a long time, Danny thinks she might fall in love again.

/

After Danny and Betty left, the others exchanged goodbyes and headed off to their respective dorms.

Now LaF is sitting on the bed while Perry finishes up in the shower. They tend to the singed parts of their hair. They couldn’t really see the damage until they’d washed all the soot off of it, but it’s not so bad. Perry will be able to save it.

The bathroom door clicks open and Perry strolls out in a pair of hot pink pajama bottoms and a tank top. She looks good. Doesn’t she always?

‘C’mere.’ LaF says, patting next to them. Perry drops down beside them, but she doesn’t look happy. They place a finger under her chin and lift her head up. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’

Perry turns her head away. ‘It’s stupid.’

‘It’s not stupid if it’s upsetting you.’

She meets their eyes and sighs. ‘I’m glad we reversed the spell, don’t think for a moment that I’m regretting that, I just… I just wish I could have retained that knowledge.’

They bite their lip. ‘You know, the library is full of spell books. If it’s something you’re interested in, let’s explore it.’

She shakes her head. ‘That’s not what I mean. I don’t want to be a witch.’

‘What do you want, then?’

‘I want to be able to keep up with you. I want to be the kind of person you can carry a real conversation with.’ She bows her head. ‘I’ll never be able to match you on an intellectual level like that ever again.’

LaF blinks. They can’t believe those words just came out of her mouth.

‘Perry, look at me.’ She does. ‘I’m not just saying this to make you feel better, you know me better than that, but I’m telling you right now that you’re a genius. You’re the most capable person I’ve ever met. You inspire me every day of my life. I’m in awe of you. I’m proud of you. I love you.’

They can see that her eyes are welling with tears, but they don’t want her to cry over this.

‘Who got us out of the library when that dragon was chasing us? Who found that secret passageway? Who saved everybody tonight? That was you, Perr, all you. You weren’t a different version of yourself tonight; that was just you with a few extra tricks up your sleeve. You’re amazing.’ They wrap an arm around her shoulders. ‘And besides, no spell can effect the way I feel any time I’m around you, or any time that I kiss you. That feeling I get in my chest? That’s magic.’

She laughs. ‘You’re such a goober.’ But she kisses them, and everything feels a little bit lighter.

Perry gets up to switch the light off and climbs in to bed with them. They kiss the top of her head. ‘Going to class tomorrow?’

Perry groans. ‘No, let’s skip it. I don’t want to do anything tomorrow except lie here with you and bake brownies.’

LaFontaine grins. They can’t imagine anything more perfect.

/

The waterfall is roaring in the distance, but from here, it just sounds soothing. After tonight’s events, neither of them felt like heading back to their cramped dorm room, so Carmilla teleported them here instead.

It’s a beautiful night, and Carmilla finds herself counting the stars when Laura speaks up.

‘Carm.’

She rolls on to her side to face her. ‘Yes?’

‘I can’t stop thinking about something.’ Laura sits up. Carmilla does the same.

‘About what, cupcake?’

She bites her lip. ‘About all the terrible things you must have seen, or felt, or experienced in some way or another.’ A tear rolls down her cheek. ‘I can’t stop thinking about how tragic it all is.’

Carmilla frowns. She’s never been that great at comforting people.

‘It is what it is, you know? You just learn to live with it.’

That was definitely the wrong thing to say, because now Laura is full on crying.

‘Hey, hey, Laura, it’s okay.’ She wraps an arm around her and sighs. ‘Look, I’m not going to dress it up for you. It’s hard sometimes, to live this long and see some of the things I’ve seen, but it’s okay. Honestly it’s okay. I’m fine.’

Laura looks up at her. ‘But it’s not fair, Carm. I feel so selfish because I want you but I’m getting more out of it than you are. Because one day I’ll be gone and I’ll have felt loved and you’ll still be here. I’m selfish for not wanting to let you go.’

Tears are threatening to prick her own eyes, but she blinks them back. Instead, she pulls Laura in and kisses her. She kisses her for a while, because she finds it so hard to talk about her feelings, and hopes that this conveys them in some way.

She breaks the kiss to speak again. ‘Listen,’ she says, and she turns Laura around so she can wrap her hands around her stomach, ‘nobody’s denying that I’ve lived through some… pretty shitty stuff. But you know what else? I’ve seen some pretty beautiful things too.’ Laura lays her head back on her shoulder and they both close their eyes. ‘There’s the bamboo forests of Japan, the Plitvice Lakes of Croatia, the tulip fields in the Netherlands, god, you wouldn’t believe how beautiful the view from the top of the Tianzi mountains in China is.’ She opens her eyes and sees that Laura is smiling, and she’s suddenly struck by something else to say. ‘And there’s you.’

Laura opens her eyes and sits up so that they’re facing each other. Carmilla bites her lip.

‘I would have missed out on knowing you, Laura. That would have been the greatest tragedy I’ve ever lived through.’

Laura blinks a few times, and then kisses her.

At this moment, under the stars with Laura in her arms, Carmilla realises that she wasn’t just speaking from a desire to comfort Laura. 

She really does make it all feel worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a while to get out, I've just been buried in a pile of uni work, but here it is!
> 
> I hope you guys like it.


End file.
